Malaysia: Court Rejects Gag Order, Sets Trial Date For Ex-PM Najib

Malaysia’s ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak will face trial Feb. 12, 2019, for criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering, a judge ruled Friday while dismissing an application from the former leader for a gag order on the news media.

The country has enough existing laws to ensure that the so-called “trial by media” would not happen, High Court Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali said as he issued his ruling on the petition to bar journalists from discussing the merits of the charges against Najib.

“In my judgment in this case, freedom of speech takes precedence,” he said after hearing arguments from Najib’s attorneys and prosecutors. “The gag order is unjustified as it is superfluous.”

Najib, 65, and his wife, Rosmah, have been barred from leaving and residences linked to them have been raided since his coalition party’s stunning defeat in May. During the raid, police seized jewelry, cash and luxury handbags with an estimated value of up to U.S. $273 million.

The charges against Najib stemmed from a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal that has engulfed 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund he founded to spur economic development.

Najib, who is free on bail, faces seven charges after prosecutors on Wednesday lodged money laundering charges. All of the charges so far involve allegations that 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) were illegally funneled electronically into his private bank accounts from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.

The amount involved in those charges were minuscule compared to $4.5 billion that U.S. prosecutors allege were stolen from 1MDB and diverted through acquisitions of real estate, artwork and luxury properties by Najib and his associates.

Najib has denied all the charges. He faces years in prison if found guilty.

Along with announcing the start date, Judge Mohamad gave prosecutors until March 29, 2019, to present their case.

Enjoy the article? Then please consider donating today to ensure that Eurasia Review can continue to be able to provide similar content.

BenarNews

BenarNews’ mission is to provide readers with accurate news and information that reflects the complex and ever-changing world around them. With homepages in Bengali, Thai, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia and English, BenarNews brings timely news to its diverse audience. Copyright BenarNews. Used with the permission of BenarNews

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics and Statcounter to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping these cookies enabled helps us to improve our website.

disable

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Additional Cookies

This website uses the following additional cookies: Adsense, AddThis and YouTube.

disable

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!